Resistance
The busyness of the last two weeks has been nearly unprecedented. No joke, people. This past week I had a presentation of my documentary, water aerobics, a group teach for which we were woefully unprepared, more grad school application business, going to my placement school, and various meetings. Over a week, it probably doesn't seem like a lot, but I'm one of those people who thinks they can only do one major thing a day. It's a sickness. But this coming week I have to prepare for yet another group project, take a test on the geography of Mexico, Central America, South American, and Africa, and take a midterm on medieval literature.
But I'm sick of not watching BSG! So I had to watch Resistance this evening and I quite enjoyed the experience. My Laura gauge was running on empty and now it's filled! Huzzah!
On to the cut!
1) Resistance starts with 47,861 survivors which means that Crashdown was the only person in the fleet who died in Fragged.
2) I'll start my commentary with how stupid it is of Tigh to assume that Tyrol is guilty on the basis of his relationship with Boomer. Everyone was fooled by Boomer, including Adama and Tigh. And, you know, you can't throw someone in the brig for having a relationship with Boomer, romantic, sexual, or friendly, because the whole frakking ship would be screwed.
3) That said, Tyrol is slightly guilty, in a sense, because he obviously had suspicions about Boomer dating back to mid-season one.
But . . . I suppose, ultimately, suspicions are just suspicions. When does it get the point where you get over convicing yourself you aren't just being paranoid? (I just watched the latest of episode of Caprica last night and the stuff with the Graystones reminds me of this.) I see strange behavior around me all the time but I'm not sure it'd occur to me to ever think, "Oh yeah, nefarious intentions there, for sure."
Still . . . I do think Tyrol should hold some responsibility. Missing detonators, missing time, sabotage . . . Add it all up and I do think it goes well beyond normal paranoia and he probably should have manned up and told someone of his suspicions.
4) While we're on the subject, though, why put Boomer and Chief in the same cell when you think they're both colluding cylons? History has told you that cylons are crafty. Don't help them out by putting them side by side.
5) But I will say that Tigh is improving as a leader. Aside from the whole "the marines I sent to that ship killed some people" incident and his ridiculous accusations of the Chief. I actually think it was rather grown up of him to consider having a summit on why he declared marshall law.
I'm the only one? Yeah?
6) I have to ask . . . What does Ellen do all day when Saul's not around for her to nag? Seriously. I'd really love to know.
7) The marines fired on the rowdy crowd because they got unruly and started throwing things, including coffee.
Coffee: The other weapon of mass destruction.
8) Hate sex between Ellen and Tigh is not hot. Sex of any kind including Tigh is not hot.
9) I really love the scene between Cally and Baltar for just one reason: Head!Six. I love how pissed she gets as Cally's continual use of the word "toaster" to refer to the cylons. But what I really wish is that Head!Six could become corporeal (for others besides Baltar) and knock Cally around for her use of racial epithets. And for being so annoying.
10) Let's move to Caprica. To start, I love how Starbuckian it is for Kara to have a couple guns stashed away in her jeep.
11) I seriously love that the Caprican resistance is lead by a former professional pyramid team. I don't know why it tickles me as much as it does, but it seriously makes me feel delightful. If there's ever a world wide holocaust I'm totally driving down to Detroit to seek out a team. But which one? Definitely not the Lions. Pistons? Nah. I'll go with the Tigers. (Not a hockey fan.)
12) I also love that the Caprican Bucs were an integrated team. (I assume this means the other teams were, too.) Co-ed badassery in sports? Cool!
13) Okay, but did you see the size of the regulation pyramid court back the resistance HQ? It's barely big enough for two people. How can it fit two teams at a time? I need the official rule book for this game, stat!
14) Anders and Helo in the same shot? Yes, please. It's almost too pretty for me, but not quite. We need Laura in a scene with both of them to send it over the top.
15) I have issues with the resistance headquarters. First of all, it's a giant building (Delphi High School, aparently) and people are just milling about outside. Anders tells Starbuck and Helo that the cylons don't patrol the area but I call "PLOT HOLE!" Are you kidding me? I don't know for sure, but I assume this place is just a bit outside Caprica City. And you're telling me cylon raiders haven't found this place while making rounds? Yeah right.
16) Now back to Laura. I'm pretty sure the whole fleet is in love with her. Corporal Venner loves Laura. Elosha loves Laura. Lee loves Laura. I suspect Zarek might love Laura.Cottle loves Laura. Billy loves Laura (in a son to mother kind of way). Tigh has repressed feelings of love for Laura (not that I can prove it.) And, duh, of course Bill loves Laura. Is it any wonder they're able to successfully round up enough people to get her out of the brig?
17) Gaeta is such a frakking tool. Keep an eye on this, because this won't be the last time a plot will be hatched and Gaeta will pretty much be the only person who isn't aware of it and nearly fraks everything up. The way he speaks to Dee in the head is so condescending. Gaeta is too reliant on protocol. So what if Tigh is a horrible leader and Roslin was put unlawfully behind bars? Tigh's in charge because Adama's out of commission so I'm going to be a big tool and do whatever Tigh tells me.
And no, not ratting out Dee at the end does not earn him points.
18) I really wish I knew who the two officers were who busted Laura out of jail.
19) But in this episode Laura is officially the most badass person in the history of ever. First, she managed to eat that hard piece of black licorice. Second, she walks in front of a cocked and loaded gun, basically tells the marine, "Shoot me if you want but I'm not going back to that cell" and the brushes it aside so casually, and just walks right by.
And you know what? That suit is actually looking pretty good on her, so she looked fabulous doing it.
20) No, I'm not okay that Billy decided not to get on that raptor with her.
I was listening to the podcast for Daybreak today (as I do sometimes) and Ron Moore and his wife had an interesting back and forth about the role of choices in the show. That the show is pretty much about how and why we make choices and how we deal with the ramifications of those choices.
Billy had a choice to make and I think it was semi-brave of him to go against his mentor/mother figure/badass boss. But I really do believe it was the wrong choice. I'm like Laura in Blood on the Scales: "Who do you want to be, [Billy]?" (No, totally not a spoiler because it's a line that could mean anything! Anything, I tell you!) And, in this case, I felt Billy could have chosen to stand up to Tigh's unlawfullness. To stand up and say, "What you did was wrong and we're going to fix it."
But that's just me.
(But on another note, there are a lot of parallels in this episode to Blood on the Scales. A lot! Stuff with Gaeta, stuff with Racetrack, stuff with Hotdog, stuff with Laura . . . I was really struck by it. Hopefully, I'll remember by the time we actually make it that far because I can't discuss it in this post.)
21) I love Laura reaction to seeing that Zarek is the man her little Captain Apollo tapped to help them out. She is so obviously feels hardcore contempt just at the sight of him and I love that Lee set this up because I'm going enjoy Laura and Zarek's interactions while they last.
22) So, um, when Lee says goodbye to Bill at the life station, they show a close up of his hands. And, people, I can't be the only one who has noticed, but Lee has lady hands. Every time I see that scene I think it's Laura. And it's not because she has man hands, either.
23) Thank the gods that Bill is back! And boy is he not the same Bill we last saw conscious in Kobol's Last Gleaming Part 2. This will be further explored in the following episodes, but it looks like Bill's fortress has been penetrated. (Yes, that's what she said.)
24) But his recovery makes me wish I had a timeline. How long was it between Fragged and Resistance, I wonder? I'm pretty sure that the last two episodes of season one and the first three episodes of season two occur within days of each other. But Adama isn't going to recover from two bullets to the gut in days. It's going to take a serious while to become mobile again. So . . . Here ends our cogent timeline. I'm going to seriously miss it.
We'll be able to better pick it back up at the end of season, I think. All I know for sure is that it's been less than 7 months since the attack. And, for obvious reasons, it's probably safe to assume it's been less than three months, too.
25) Wow, Boomer's dead. I have to admit that when I first saw this episode, it never occured to me that Boomer would die. It was still early enough in BSG where I was fooled into believing main characters were safe. (How dashed was that expectation, eh?) So, when Cally busts through the crowd and shoots Boomer, I remember being shocked.
I like the parallel between Tyrol's drop of blood in the beginning and Boomer's drop of blood at the end.
I never though about it before, though, but Adama is Kennedy (without the actual death), Boomer is Lee Harvey Oswald, and Cally is Jack Ruby. (You can even think of it as human!Boomer being a kind of patsy in a vast cylon conspiracy.)
26) We'll end with my favorite quotes from the episode. There are two (one of which is an exchange) that I just love and really feel the need to share them.
Ellen: It seems all touchy-feely. 'Let's all sit down and talk about our feelings on marshall law.' Bill would never do that."
Actually, considering how weepy Bill is at the end of this episode, touchy-feely seems about right.
Laura: Doctor, I need your help. But it's illegal, dangerous, and in violation of your oath as an officer."
Cottle: You're a lousy salesman.
Anyone who chats with me on google knows that this is one of my all time favorite BSG quotes and that I often use it as my online message. I just love that Laura is so blunt about it, I guess, and that she tells him all the negative things associated with what she needs but how she obviously expects him to do it anyway. And he loves her (I swear!) so of course he'll do anything she asks, even if it illegal, dangerous, and against his oath as an officer and even if she a lousy salesman (which she is).
So, that was Resistance. This wasn't really a "thinking" episode. While writing up this recap I felt like a lot of what I was doing was listening my likes and dislikes, which I always do, but there was little philosophical discussion on morality, ethics, and human nature. I like this episode, but I miss that stuff, too! I feel compelled, however, to do well by Resistance despite it's lack of "thinking" and give it 4 out of 5 airlocks.
But I'm sick of not watching BSG! So I had to watch Resistance this evening and I quite enjoyed the experience. My Laura gauge was running on empty and now it's filled! Huzzah!
On to the cut!
1) Resistance starts with 47,861 survivors which means that Crashdown was the only person in the fleet who died in Fragged.
2) I'll start my commentary with how stupid it is of Tigh to assume that Tyrol is guilty on the basis of his relationship with Boomer. Everyone was fooled by Boomer, including Adama and Tigh. And, you know, you can't throw someone in the brig for having a relationship with Boomer, romantic, sexual, or friendly, because the whole frakking ship would be screwed.
3) That said, Tyrol is slightly guilty, in a sense, because he obviously had suspicions about Boomer dating back to mid-season one.
But . . . I suppose, ultimately, suspicions are just suspicions. When does it get the point where you get over convicing yourself you aren't just being paranoid? (I just watched the latest of episode of Caprica last night and the stuff with the Graystones reminds me of this.) I see strange behavior around me all the time but I'm not sure it'd occur to me to ever think, "Oh yeah, nefarious intentions there, for sure."
Still . . . I do think Tyrol should hold some responsibility. Missing detonators, missing time, sabotage . . . Add it all up and I do think it goes well beyond normal paranoia and he probably should have manned up and told someone of his suspicions.
4) While we're on the subject, though, why put Boomer and Chief in the same cell when you think they're both colluding cylons? History has told you that cylons are crafty. Don't help them out by putting them side by side.
5) But I will say that Tigh is improving as a leader. Aside from the whole "the marines I sent to that ship killed some people" incident and his ridiculous accusations of the Chief. I actually think it was rather grown up of him to consider having a summit on why he declared marshall law.
I'm the only one? Yeah?
6) I have to ask . . . What does Ellen do all day when Saul's not around for her to nag? Seriously. I'd really love to know.
7) The marines fired on the rowdy crowd because they got unruly and started throwing things, including coffee.
Coffee: The other weapon of mass destruction.
8) Hate sex between Ellen and Tigh is not hot. Sex of any kind including Tigh is not hot.
9) I really love the scene between Cally and Baltar for just one reason: Head!Six. I love how pissed she gets as Cally's continual use of the word "toaster" to refer to the cylons. But what I really wish is that Head!Six could become corporeal (for others besides Baltar) and knock Cally around for her use of racial epithets. And for being so annoying.
10) Let's move to Caprica. To start, I love how Starbuckian it is for Kara to have a couple guns stashed away in her jeep.
11) I seriously love that the Caprican resistance is lead by a former professional pyramid team. I don't know why it tickles me as much as it does, but it seriously makes me feel delightful. If there's ever a world wide holocaust I'm totally driving down to Detroit to seek out a team. But which one? Definitely not the Lions. Pistons? Nah. I'll go with the Tigers. (Not a hockey fan.)
12) I also love that the Caprican Bucs were an integrated team. (I assume this means the other teams were, too.) Co-ed badassery in sports? Cool!
13) Okay, but did you see the size of the regulation pyramid court back the resistance HQ? It's barely big enough for two people. How can it fit two teams at a time? I need the official rule book for this game, stat!
14) Anders and Helo in the same shot? Yes, please. It's almost too pretty for me, but not quite. We need Laura in a scene with both of them to send it over the top.
15) I have issues with the resistance headquarters. First of all, it's a giant building (Delphi High School, aparently) and people are just milling about outside. Anders tells Starbuck and Helo that the cylons don't patrol the area but I call "PLOT HOLE!" Are you kidding me? I don't know for sure, but I assume this place is just a bit outside Caprica City. And you're telling me cylon raiders haven't found this place while making rounds? Yeah right.
16) Now back to Laura. I'm pretty sure the whole fleet is in love with her. Corporal Venner loves Laura. Elosha loves Laura. Lee loves Laura. I suspect Zarek might love Laura.Cottle loves Laura. Billy loves Laura (in a son to mother kind of way). Tigh has repressed feelings of love for Laura (not that I can prove it.) And, duh, of course Bill loves Laura. Is it any wonder they're able to successfully round up enough people to get her out of the brig?
17) Gaeta is such a frakking tool. Keep an eye on this, because this won't be the last time a plot will be hatched and Gaeta will pretty much be the only person who isn't aware of it and nearly fraks everything up. The way he speaks to Dee in the head is so condescending. Gaeta is too reliant on protocol. So what if Tigh is a horrible leader and Roslin was put unlawfully behind bars? Tigh's in charge because Adama's out of commission so I'm going to be a big tool and do whatever Tigh tells me.
And no, not ratting out Dee at the end does not earn him points.
18) I really wish I knew who the two officers were who busted Laura out of jail.
19) But in this episode Laura is officially the most badass person in the history of ever. First, she managed to eat that hard piece of black licorice. Second, she walks in front of a cocked and loaded gun, basically tells the marine, "Shoot me if you want but I'm not going back to that cell" and the brushes it aside so casually, and just walks right by.
And you know what? That suit is actually looking pretty good on her, so she looked fabulous doing it.
20) No, I'm not okay that Billy decided not to get on that raptor with her.
I was listening to the podcast for Daybreak today (as I do sometimes) and Ron Moore and his wife had an interesting back and forth about the role of choices in the show. That the show is pretty much about how and why we make choices and how we deal with the ramifications of those choices.
Billy had a choice to make and I think it was semi-brave of him to go against his mentor/mother figure/badass boss. But I really do believe it was the wrong choice. I'm like Laura in Blood on the Scales: "Who do you want to be, [Billy]?" (No, totally not a spoiler because it's a line that could mean anything! Anything, I tell you!) And, in this case, I felt Billy could have chosen to stand up to Tigh's unlawfullness. To stand up and say, "What you did was wrong and we're going to fix it."
But that's just me.
(But on another note, there are a lot of parallels in this episode to Blood on the Scales. A lot! Stuff with Gaeta, stuff with Racetrack, stuff with Hotdog, stuff with Laura . . . I was really struck by it. Hopefully, I'll remember by the time we actually make it that far because I can't discuss it in this post.)
21) I love Laura reaction to seeing that Zarek is the man her little Captain Apollo tapped to help them out. She is so obviously feels hardcore contempt just at the sight of him and I love that Lee set this up because I'm going enjoy Laura and Zarek's interactions while they last.
22) So, um, when Lee says goodbye to Bill at the life station, they show a close up of his hands. And, people, I can't be the only one who has noticed, but Lee has lady hands. Every time I see that scene I think it's Laura. And it's not because she has man hands, either.
23) Thank the gods that Bill is back! And boy is he not the same Bill we last saw conscious in Kobol's Last Gleaming Part 2. This will be further explored in the following episodes, but it looks like Bill's fortress has been penetrated. (Yes, that's what she said.)
24) But his recovery makes me wish I had a timeline. How long was it between Fragged and Resistance, I wonder? I'm pretty sure that the last two episodes of season one and the first three episodes of season two occur within days of each other. But Adama isn't going to recover from two bullets to the gut in days. It's going to take a serious while to become mobile again. So . . . Here ends our cogent timeline. I'm going to seriously miss it.
We'll be able to better pick it back up at the end of season, I think. All I know for sure is that it's been less than 7 months since the attack. And, for obvious reasons, it's probably safe to assume it's been less than three months, too.
25) Wow, Boomer's dead. I have to admit that when I first saw this episode, it never occured to me that Boomer would die. It was still early enough in BSG where I was fooled into believing main characters were safe. (How dashed was that expectation, eh?) So, when Cally busts through the crowd and shoots Boomer, I remember being shocked.
I like the parallel between Tyrol's drop of blood in the beginning and Boomer's drop of blood at the end.
I never though about it before, though, but Adama is Kennedy (without the actual death), Boomer is Lee Harvey Oswald, and Cally is Jack Ruby. (You can even think of it as human!Boomer being a kind of patsy in a vast cylon conspiracy.)
26) We'll end with my favorite quotes from the episode. There are two (one of which is an exchange) that I just love and really feel the need to share them.
Ellen: It seems all touchy-feely. 'Let's all sit down and talk about our feelings on marshall law.' Bill would never do that."
Actually, considering how weepy Bill is at the end of this episode, touchy-feely seems about right.
Laura: Doctor, I need your help. But it's illegal, dangerous, and in violation of your oath as an officer."
Cottle: You're a lousy salesman.
Anyone who chats with me on google knows that this is one of my all time favorite BSG quotes and that I often use it as my online message. I just love that Laura is so blunt about it, I guess, and that she tells him all the negative things associated with what she needs but how she obviously expects him to do it anyway. And he loves her (I swear!) so of course he'll do anything she asks, even if it illegal, dangerous, and against his oath as an officer and even if she a lousy salesman (which she is).
So, that was Resistance. This wasn't really a "thinking" episode. While writing up this recap I felt like a lot of what I was doing was listening my likes and dislikes, which I always do, but there was little philosophical discussion on morality, ethics, and human nature. I like this episode, but I miss that stuff, too! I feel compelled, however, to do well by Resistance despite it's lack of "thinking" and give it 4 out of 5 airlocks.